Match report: Slyne with Hest 2 Garstang 9

A tremendous result and performance gave Garstang victory in their fourth game in the last 10 days.

Riversiders’ boss Lee Baker made two changes from the side that defeated Turton with Tom Swallow replacing the unavailable Dan Curwen and Chris Byrne in for the injured Matty Poole.

The early exchanges gave no inkling of what was to come with the first real attempt coming on seven minutes when Ryan Dodd’s 25-yard volley was straight at the Slyne keeper.

Alan Coar had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside decision as Garstang’s midfield began to dominate possession.

They broke the deadlock in the 10th minute when the ball reached Rick Coar down the inside-left channel and he nonchalantly fired home.

With Slyne having little time to dwell on the ball, Garstang’s second goal came when Tom Entwisle’s corner was headed in, again by Coar.

He returned the favour on 19 minutes by turning provider for Entwisle to fire home from the edge of the area.

Instead of going into cruise control, Garstang continued to try and expoit Slyne’s defensive vulnerabilities with Coar firing home from 12 yards on 32 minutes to make it 4-0 and complete his hat-trick.

He wasn’t finished there; he collected Tom Graham’s 45-yard pass before turning his man and making it 5-0 with around 10 minutes to go before half-time.

A rare attack saw Slyne pull one back when Dan Dixon’s header flew past Swallow but there was still time for Garstang to score again as Dodd netted from close range.

Leading 6-1 at half-time, Garstang introduced Jonny Hothersall for the second half as he linked up well with Dodd, who saw a 30-yarder fly just wide.

Swallow made two saves and Hothersall shot narrowly off target as both teams continued to look for goals.

The next goal was the highlight of the game as a half-clearance fell to Dodd 35 yards out where he chipped the ball into the corner and made the score 7-1.

Number eight arrived as Dodd’s shot was half-saved and Coar snapped up his fifth of the evening.

Slyne got a goal back when Callum Moore fired home from the edge of the box but there was still time for Coar to go on a mazy run and shoot home from close range to round off a great personal performance with his sixth goal.